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Emotions stoked after Hanley hit twice; X-rays negative

Shortstop sustains injury to left hand; hit on left shoulder earlier in game

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Hanley hit for second time 2:53

7/20/14: Hanley Ramirez is hit for the second time in the game, this time by Trevor Rosenthal, and is forced to exit in the 9th inning

By Alex Halsted
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MLB.com |

ST. LOUIS -- Hanley Ramirez stood at his locker in the Dodgers clubhouse late Sunday night, visibly frustrated and without much to say.

His teammates said everything they needed to, however, after Ramirez was hit twice by Cardinals pitchers with near-triple-digit fastballs. The second instance forced the shortstop to exit in the ninth inning of the Dodgers' 4-3 victory and undergo an X-ray, which came back negative.

"One thing is pitching inside and another thing is pitching inside carelessly. They're obviously showing that they don't care if they hit him," Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. "They're not on purpose, but they don't care if they hit him. They hit Hanley last year, they hit [Yasiel] Puig yesterday, they hit Hanley twice today. It's almost like, 'Hey, we're going to throw it inside. If we hit you, we hit you. If we don't, we don't.'"

Puig was unavailable Sunday after being hit on the left hand in the third inning Saturday. Ramirez was hit for the first time Sunday by a 99-mph fastball from starter Carlos Martinez.

"There comes a point where it's enough," Gonzalez added.

That point came just three outs later, when Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw began the bottom half of the frame by hitting Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday. Both benches were warned after the incident.

"That's the way to do it," Gonzalez said. "He wasn't doing it to a point where he's putting Holliday's career at risk. He wasn't going after his head or his uppper body."

There is history between Ramirez and the Cardinals. The Dodgers shortstop was hit by Joe Kelly in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series last season, breaking his rib, which affected his play the remainder of the series. After missing Game 2, Ramirez went 2-for-14 the remainder of the series as the Dodgers were eliminated.

He was hit for a second time Sunday by Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal on an 0-2 pitch in the ninth with two on and two outs of a tie game. Following a warning, an ejection is up to the umpire's discretion, and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, who briefly talked with home-plate umpire Ed Hickox, said Hickox didn't feel the pitch was intentional.

"We have to use both sides of the plate," Cardinals manager Matheny said. "I don't have a reason for you, nobody does. I think in those situations, everybody could tell we're not trying to hit anybody. We're trying to make good pitches against a good hitter."

"Everybody is trying to pitch in, everybody has to pitch in," Mattingly said. "Really, at some point, if you can't pitch in without hitting people, then your guys are at risk, too. That's kind of the way that goes. We're going to protect our guys, we've always done that."

While not feeling the instances were intentional, the Dodgers remained upset. Kershaw declined to talk about himself, but did expound on his teammate.

"It's tough when you see Hanley get hit like that so many times," Kershaw said. "It's one thing to miss in, but when you're missing up and in, that's really scary. I'm pretty sure he wasn't doing it on purpose, but when you throw that hard, you need to have a better idea where the ball is going on the inner half of the plate."

After Ramirez was removed for a pinch-runner in the ninth, Gonzalez singled to right field to lift the Dodgers to the one-run victory.

Alex Halsted is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.